CORVALLIS – When the ceremonial shovels hit the ground Thursday, marking the long-awaited beginning of Oregon State’s basketball practice facility construction, the Beavers will be digging in their heels in college sports’ facility arms race.

“It’s the newest best thing,’’ OSU athletic director Bob De Carolis said of the buildings that have proliferated on college campuses across the nation.

Basketball practice facilities please and appease coaches and help with scheduling logistics, but mostly they are a statement that a university is serious about the basketball recruiting game. And in OSU’s case, it’s a four-story, 34,500-square foot, $15 million message that the Beavers are catching up with the rest of the Pac-12.

“We are woefully behind from a facilities standpoint,’’ said OSU men’s basketball coach Craig Robinson, who will be at the 4 p.m. groundbreaking along with De Carolis, university president Ed Ray and women’s coach Scott Rueck. “It’s going to help put the basketball program on the map again.’’

Robinson, like Beavers coaches before him, have clamored for a facility for years. In various forms, it has been on the drawing board since the building boom began, since before De Carolis took over the department nearly 10 years ago.

Initially, it was going to be a facility for women’s basketball, volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics and was to be attached to Gill Coliseum. Building codes nixed that plan, and a later idea to build a single-court facility between the football practice fields and the coliseum stalled, too. When the Sports Performance Center was constructed, the current plan was put in place to build the basketball practice facility behind it.

After input from coaches, the practice facility grew from a $5 million project to one with a $15 million price tag.

Oregon State has many facilities but few “bells and whistles,’’ especially when compared with Oregon, but this should be a building with a little wow factor.

“I don’t know if there’s going to be bells and whistles, but it’s going to be quality,’’ said De Carolis, who plans to finance the project’s final $5 million after the fund-raising reaches $10 million from its current $9.2 million. “We’re not just building one little gym – it’s a big deal. Now we’ve just got to continue to win, right?’’

Both the men’s and women’s teams are coming off 20-win seasons – the first since 1990 for the men and a stunningly successful rebuilding job by Rueck on the women’s side. With the success comes a greater focus on the bluer-chip athlete, and it’s that kind of player and player’s family that would appreciate such a practice facility.

“In this recruiting game, people are always looking for reasons to knock you out. It’s like going for a job. If there are a lot of good candidates, the person looking to fill the job is going to look for reasons to knock people out and narrow it down. This just gives us one less thing to get knocked out for.’’

Once on campus, the facility affords the player the chance to get work in, and not worry about locked doors or volleyball or wrestling practice taking up floor space.

FileCraig Robinson and Ahmad Starks will have more time to work.

“It’s good we have a place to go practice whenever we want to go get shots up or whatever – anytime of night,’’ guard Ahmad Starks said. “(Not having a practice facility) wouldn’t be a negative per se, but it’s something that may factor a little bit.’’

When the facility is built, the Pac-12 will have just one coach clamoring for one, California’s Mike Montgomery. Every other school in the conference either has built a facility recently or has multiple practice courts at their disposal.

At Oregon, the courts were a relatively frugal addition to the $227 million Matthew Knight Arena. Construction costs came under budget, and for about $5 million, the Ducks were able to include two regulation courts in the massive arena project.

UO coach Dana Altman said a practice facility may mean a lot to one recruit and nothing to the next, but all grow to appreciate it once on campus. Former Ducks coach Ernie Kent, who battled schedule issues at McArthur Court, said that for the student-athlete, the nicer the better.

“There’s something about it for players, when they can walk into a brand-new facility that looks new and smells new – it does make them want to get in there and work,’’ Kent said. “Also, you will have to sit in a home and explain to a mom or a dad what you’re going to do to get their son into the NBA. Academics are extremely important, but it’s everything from having a full-time strength coach, a nutritionist, access to a massage therapist, access to acupuncture, access to a court anytime you want it.’’

Robinson said he can now present the building and say, “Here’s a place where you can prepare for the next level.’’

Robinson said he hopes to have A.C. Green and Gary Payton on hand for the groundbreaking. It was Payton who reportedly pledged to give $3 million for an OSU practice facility while in the NBA. It is unknown whether Payton has given any money to the project, although his connection with the program does appear happily restored.

“I’m sure he gave something – specifically, I don’t know,’’ Robinson said. “All the former players have given their time and their energy to help raise money, and that’s as good as writing a check. I’ve never asked Gary that, nor will I.’’

De Carolis said he’s excited to break ground and grab a shovel after all these years.